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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30124014">The Clock</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scoby/pseuds/Scoby'>Scoby</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Mandalorian (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Biological Clock, Considering Starting a Family, Established Relationship, F/M, Meta, Pregnancy Scares, Quarantine, Soft Toy Grogu | Baby Yoda, Working Out My Feelings Through Fic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 02:14:28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,602</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30124014</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scoby/pseuds/Scoby</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“What do you nowadays think about having kids?”</p><p>“Same as before, I’d say. Why?”</p><p>She blushes deeper than just the effect of outdoor air and starts rambling: “I just thought… What if it just happens to me one day that there’s no escaping that I really need to have my own kids? Like the head blurs and body is all overtaken by hormones or… something like that. I don’t know how that stuff works.”</p><p>Din wraps his arms around her and pulls her into a hug. “You feeling something like that?”</p><p>“You see, I don’t know. I have no idea how it’s supposed to feel. I mean the feeling of really wanting it. I just know that I feel something… like I can’t quite get my mind off…”</p><p>“Can’t quite get your mind off a certain tiny fictional character?”</p><p>-----<br/>where Din experiences first hand how exposure to Baby Yoda messes up his wife's hormones</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Din Djarin/Original Female Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Dedicated to all the fertile-aged women whose hormones are being thrown around by Grogu</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>The Government, in cooperation with the President of the Republic, has today declared a national state of emergency, effective immediately. Under the Emergency Powers Act, all public gatherings of more than ten people are prohibited. Schools and universities are closed and teaching offered remotely. Restaurants are allowed to be open for takeout and delivery only. Travel in and out of the capital region is restricted. Use of face mask is recommended in all public indoor spaces and workplaces. Remote work is recommended whenever possible. As a nation, we have survived many trials over the course of history. We will get through this, too, together.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>“Who knew that it would come to this?” Din leans back on the sofa when the Prime Minister stops speaking on the screen.</p><p>“I guess this cancels our opera tickets and reservation at the new Korean place and visiting my Grandma and… pretty much everything from every evening and weekend in the foreseeable future.”</p><p>Elena picks up her phone to browse her calendar and start erasing entries. Din follows her example and opens his email.</p><p>“Yeah, the cancellation emails are already coming.”</p><p>“Should we figure out something else?”</p><p>“Like what?”</p><p>Elena shrugs. “I don’t know. Maybe we could get Disney+ or something.”</p><p>“Disney+?” Din tilts his head in thought. “Ok, why not…”</p><p>It only takes a few minutes for them to make the subscription, and then they are faced with an overwhelmingly long list of movies and shows.</p><p>“How about we just start with that one?” Din points at the banner at the top of the landing page, featuring a man armoured from head to toe, carrying a large, harpoon-like weapon diagonally across his back, depicted against a gorgeous sunset over a desert.</p><p>“Hmmmhh…” Elena frowns. “The Mandalorian? What’s that? Some mindless superhero show where you don’t even see the superhero’s face?”</p><p>“Yeah, could be mindless but... Is there anything else you'd rather watch?”</p><p>Elena browses through the list once more but cannot decide, so she ends up throwing her hands in the air and stretching idly. “Ok, fine, let’s have a look at the first episode of that.”</p><p>They watch most of the episode in silence, both with their own reservations. But over time, Din leans gradually more and more forward on the sofa. Towards the end, his eyes widen when he hears:</p><p>
  <em>Do not self destruct. We’re shooting our way out.</em>
</p><p>As the Mandalorian jumps on a giant, rotating blaster and shoots the remaining people in the courtyard, Din says in awe: “Now is that badass or what?”</p><p>“I don’t know about this”, Elena says. “Looks a bit like action figures would fight.”</p><p>She folds her legs up against her chest and her arms over them. When the Mandalorian and the hunter droid enter the now deserted building, she is already thinking about which other show they should watch next. But when they find the white, round container and open it and the camera eventually zooms in on the contents, her eyes widen.</p><p>“What’s that?” she whispers as a little, three-fingered hand pulls down the cover and a green head with large, dark eyes and wide, pointy ears appears. When the creature looks around and blinks, Elena lets out an adoring squeal.</p><p>Her heart jumps to her throat when the droid is about to shoot it. And for the first time during the whole episode, she cheers at the Mandalorian’s shooting when he kills the droid instead.</p><p>As the end credits start and Disney+ proposes to play the next episode in ten seconds, Din and Elena only need a brief, wordless look at each other to know that they are absolutely going to watch it. They go through half of the season by midnight, and the other half the following night.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>“You’re muted”, Din tells the image of his boss who is silently moving his lips on the screen.</p><p>
  <em>Oh, sorry… Yes, what I was saying was just that I think we’re ready for the next client iteration after you fix the bug with the interface. Can you still do that this week?</em>
</p><p>“No problem. I’ll fix it tomorrow.”</p><p>
  <em>Good. I’ve still got one more call I need to jump on to. Everything clear?</em>
</p><p>“Yes, I’ll let you know when the interface is done.”</p><p>
  <em>Thank you. Have a nice evening.</em>
</p><p>“Thanks, you too. Bye.”</p><p>Din closes first Zoom, then the whole screen and walks over to the bedroom. Elena is splayed on her back over the bed, head propped up on a pillow, laptop open on her belly and hands typing vigorously. Din sits down next to her foot and softly caresses her arch.</p><p>“Are you hungry?” he asks.</p><p>“Yeah. But I have a couple more emails to write”, Elena says without moving her gaze from the screen.</p><p>“Is half an hour enough for you? I could start cooking.”</p><p>That makes Elena move her laptop to the side and look at him.</p><p>“Thanks, hot one. I’d love that.”</p><p>Din leaves her foot and leans on his elbows right next to her pillow so that he can kiss her. She kisses him back in a way that makes him temporarily forget about food and press his lips tighter to hers and push his tongue closer and… Elena sighs with delight but nudges him back with a hand on his chest.</p><p>“Just a couple more emails”, she reminds him.</p><p>He nods and briefly kisses her forehead before leaving the bedroom and moving to the kitchen.</p><p> </p><p>When the food is ready, Elena scrambles from the bedroom to the kitchen, stopping to stretch her arms up and roll her neck.</p><p>“Can I use the desk tomorrow?” she asks as they sit down to eat.</p><p>“I thought you liked working from the bed.”</p><p>“It was nice for the first week. Now my back is dying. I think I just need one day in a proper chair and I’ll be all reset.”</p><p>“Ok, you can have it tomorrow. I’ll figure out something.”</p><p>They are in the midst of eating when the doorbell rings.</p><p>“Who's that?” Din is about to stand up but Elena is faster.</p><p>“The courier!” She half runs to the door and looks out of the peephole to check that the courier has enough time to disappear out of exposure range, according to the delivery service's instructions. Then, she opens the door, shouts ‘thank you!’ to the empty staircase, picks up a cardboard box from the floor, takes it inside and closes the door after her.</p><p>“What have you ordered?” Din asks.</p><p>“Mmmhh, nothing special…” she says and sits back down to continue eating. But it is obvious how antsy she is throughout the rest of the dinner. She keeps squirming on her chair and throwing glances at the box waiting on the living room floor. As soon as they finish, she rushes to open it.</p><p>Din’s eyes widen when he sees what Elena starts pulling out of the box: Baby Yoda keychain, Baby Yoda phone case, Baby Yoda earrings, a few Baby Yoda face masks, several Baby Yoda sticker packs, a decorative pillow with a Baby Yoda print, and at the bottom of it all, a life-size Baby Yoda soft toy.</p><p>“Nothing special, huh?” Din teases, but Elena dismisses him by hitting him with the pillow.</p><p>“Ohhh, look at this, it’s just like him!” she squeals and moves the head of the soft toy to make it do similar gestures as she remembers from the show.</p><p>Din sighs and chuckles in quiet amusement as she sets out to cover her belongings in images of Baby Yoda: keys with the keychain, phone with the case, her corner of the sofa with the pillow, ears with the earrings as well as laptop, wallet, notebook, make-up box and toothbrush mug with the stickers. All the time, while moving around the apartment, she holds the soft toy gently under her arm.</p><p> </p><p>The whole following day, the stuffed Baby Yoda spends in Elena’s lap as she works at the only ergonomic desk in the apartment. When she has to take breaks to think about something difficult, she squeezes its hand. When she cooks, she keeps glancing at it across the kitchen in awe. And the evening she spends rewatching her favourite clips of The Mandalorian and making the toy act out the same gestures.</p><p>Din silently rolls his eyes at most of her fascination with the stuffed toy. But when she drags it next to her in bed, he decides that she has earned more proactive teasing.</p><p>“Are you sure about that?” He gestures at the baby with his head as he snuggles next to her and slides his hand under her blanket to stroke up her arm, slowly proceeding towards her armpit. She squeals already before he can even reach it.</p><p>“Why not?” She only manages two words before she has to scream when Din invades her armpit with a fierce tickle.</p><p>“Just because… I had something in mind. Something…” He leaves Elena’s armpit and slides his fingers down her side until he reaches the naked patch between her t-shirt and shorts. He follows it until her navel and inches his fingertips below the waistband of her shorts while kissing her earlobe and down her neck. Leaving his lips against the crook of her neck, he adds: “Just something that he might be a bit too young to watch.”</p><p>Elena giggles so hard that her eyes squeeze shut and head tilts back.</p><p>“Point taken”, she says, grabs the baby and places it on her nightstand with its back to them. Then she turns back to Din, attacks him with a kiss and rolls over him.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Elena is rowing a boat across a lake. But it keeps turning to her left and making a circle instead of moving towards the shore. And she notices that it is because her left hand is dragging a giant watch that is pulling the whole arm down. And then she slips over the left side of the boat and sinks. But she can breathe and the whole world under the surface is full of wavy plants and mermaids.</p><p>Then she is not in the water anymore but in a Zoom call with Din and her Grandma. No matter how much she tries to explain in words and hand gestures, Grandma does not get which button to press to unmute herself. But her hand comes through the screen and hands Elena a pink rose. A flock of birds takes off from their living room and takes all their furniture with them. But then the furniture is back again, the living room looks normal, and Din is walking across it, towards her, with a baby in his arms – a baby with his own dark eyes and fluffy hair.</p><p> </p><p>Elena jerks awake. She has fallen asleep naked, but she is not cold, because she is still in Din’s arms. And something about the dream left her feeling oddly warm from the inside. After trying for a while, though, she notices that she cannot fall asleep again in this position. So she cautiously detaches herself from Din's body and quietly retrieves her t-shirt and shorts from the edge of the bed in the faint light of the streetlamps streaming in through the window. Then, she reaches for the Baby Yoda on the nightstand.</p><p>But instead of hugging it to herself and closing her eyes for sleeping, she turns back towards Din and carefully lifts his top arm enough to ease the soft toy into the space between his arms and chest. When he sniffles and moves in his sleep, she quickly pulls her hands away. But instead of waking up or pushing the toy away, he ends up adjusting his top arm tighter around it.</p><p>Elena’s heart melts at the sight. Din looks exactly like she has imagined the Mandalorian to look like in the privacy of the Razor Crest, if he sometimes would take off his helmet and armour and snuggle with the child after a long day of fighting Imperials. Elena lies awake for a long time, just watching them until sleep overtakes her.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>“What do you nowadays think about having kids?”</p><p>A steady stream of walkers, joggers and bikers keeps passing by behind them, hardly able to keep up any safe distances because the whole trail is so crowded. Din and Elena have stopped, detached from the crowd and sat down on the beach rocks. And apparently, Elena has suddenly become curious to revisit a discussion they have not had in a long time.</p><p>She popped this question for the first time on their third date, and Din gave her the same answer he had given to others: at least not in a while, and if it would later become actual, he would prefer adoption because of the situation with the world population and its environmental impacts. He already braced himself for the worst response, but to his surprise, Elena nodded and told him that she would say exactly the same.</p><p>By the time he met her, he had briefly dated several women in the same age, whose clocks had been ticking very loudly and who had made it clear that starting a family was part of their five-year plan and that they were not ready to commit to anyone who was not securely on board with that. But Elena turned out different. She made him feel interesting, cherished and desirable as himself, not only as a potential source of sperm. She was not looking for primarily a father for her children, but rather a companion for epic romance and everyday life. And that was what Din ended up gladly becoming for her. They had revisited the question of kids a couple of times – right before getting married and once after it – but always come to the same conclusion. Even now, Din only gazes at the horizon for a short while before turning to Elena and answering:</p><p>“Same as before, I’d say. Why?”</p><p>She blushes deeper than just the effect of outdoor air and starts rambling: “I just thought… Hmmmh, about the clock and stuff, you know, theoretically. What if it just happens to me one day that there’s no escaping that I really need to have my own kids? Like the head blurs and body is all overtaken by hormones or… something like that. I don’t know how that stuff works.”</p><p>Din wraps his arms around her and pulls her into a hug. “You feeling something like that?”</p><p>“You see, I don’t know. I have no idea how it’s supposed to feel. I mean the feeling of really wanting it. I just know that I feel something… like I can’t quite get my mind off…”</p><p>When her words die out, Din attempts to fill in, as the corners of his mouth quirk up: “Can’t quite get your mind off a certain tiny fictional character?”</p><p>“No!” Elena tries to wiggle out of his arms, but he holds tighter and tickles her through her thin coat. “That’s not what I’m saying! Forget I asked. I’m normal. Totally normal.”</p><p>She giggles in a way that crumbles the skin around her eyes into dimples that Din wants to kiss. The kiss calms her down, and she stops laughing and settles against his chest.</p><p>“I didn’t mean to interrupt, just got provoked because you’re too cute”, Din admits. “Is there anything more you want to say? I seriously want to listen.”</p><p>But Elena only snuggles closer and mumbles: “Not at the moment. I’ll need to do some figuring out myself first.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>You have called the municipal healthcare phone service. If you are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19, press one. If you suspect exposure to COVID-19, press two. In all other matters, press three.</em>
</p><p>Elena lowers her phone to press three on the keypad and lifts it on her ear again. She listens to four rounds of an upbeat elevator tune and three reminders that she is in the queue before somebody picks up in the other end:</p><p>
  <em>Hello, how can I help you?</em>
</p><p>“Hello. This is Elena Djarin. I’d like to book an appointment, for gynecologist.”</p><p>
  <em>For what procedure?</em>
</p><p>“Well, my contraceptive capsule is expiring next month and I need to, errr, change it, or maybe remove it…”</p><p>
  <em>Did you say you want to have it changed or removed?</em>
</p><p>“I – I don’t actually know yet. Could I just book the appointment, please? By the time it happens, I’ll decide what to do.”</p><p>
  <em>Unfortunately, we are currently overloaded with COVID-19 patients. We are not booking any appointments for any procedures that are not absolutely essential and urgent. But you don’t have to worry about the changing yet. Those capsules have wide margins in the expiry dates. You can go a few months over time and it will still be effective. Just call us again towards the end of the summer, and hopefully we’ll be in a better situation to book you an appointment then. Unless, of course, you wish to remove the capsule and attempt to conceive fast…</em>
</p><p>“Uh, no, no hurry with that, I’ll call back later. Thank you.”</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Din takes the full grocery bag from Elena and starts emptying it on the kitchen table as she carefully removes her Baby Yoda face mask into a pot and starts boiling water. The first item that comes to his hand is a bag of Brussels sprouts.</p><p>“I thought you didn’t like Brussels sprouts”, he says thoughtfully.</p><p>“Well, they’re healthy. I’m sure we can figure out a nice way to cook them.”</p><p>From the way how Elena’s gaze wanders around the kitchen and avoids him, he gets what is really going on. With a smirk on his face, he steps closer to her, crowding her between himself and the counter so that she has no choice of ignoring him.</p><p>“And it happens to conveniently be the same colour as a certain…”</p><p>“It’s a coincidence!” she cuts him off, but her body shakes with a held-back laughter.</p><p>Din returns to the grocery back and discovers that it is most certainly not a coincidence. Besides the Brussels sprouts, Elena has bought asparagus, iceberg salad, celery, endive, Romanesco broccoli, bok choy, cabbage and faba bean – every possible vegetable in the colour of a certain little womp rat.</p><p>He sighs and reaches out a hand to lovingly stroke Elena’s back. She pauses to enjoy a few caresses before moving to the living room to retrieve her laptop. After opening it, she spends a moment adoring her new Baby Yoda desktop background, and then starts searching for recipes online.</p><p>They end up finding nothing that would include all the ingredients she bought. But the experiment ends up being fun and the food ok. At least Elena loudly declares that it is the best food with Brussels sprouts she has ever eaten.</p><p> </p><p>The rest of the evening passes with no more direct Mandalorian references. They talk a brief Zoom call with Elena’s Grandma, watch the news and take a short walk to see the sunset. Or maybe the sunset counts as a Mandalorian reference because it makes Elena imagine how they would look like against it, only their silhouettes visible and a baby carrier basket floating in the air next to them. But since they are not on a desert, she decides that the conditions are not optimal for that, zips her mouth and does not say anything aloud.</p><p>Right before going to sleep, though, she gets a nagging feeling that something is off. If she remembers correct, something in particular has not happened in a too long time. She finishes brushing her teeth and passes her thumb lovingly over the Baby Yoda sticker on her toothbrush mug as she sets it down in the bathroom cupboard. But before going to bed, she picks up her phone and opens the period tracking app.</p><p>There they are: the red marks indicating predicted period days, starting already a week ago. And still, she has seen no sign of actual blood.</p><p>Elena puts the phone away and snuggles in bed next to Din. But she can only lay awake as a myriad of thoughts bombards her:</p><p>
  <em>It could be anything. Just an irregularity. Or it could be an actual baby, just like in The Mandalorian! No! There’s no way the two of us could have a child in that species. But you’ve seen what kind of a baby you could have, in that dream. Yes, it was all cute but don’t over-interpret. What if it’s not healthy? What if it becomes a criminal? What if the Earth is no longer habitable for humans when it’s grown up? Why so many questions when you’re not even sure if this is just your period coming a few days late? It’s a full week!</em>
</p><p>She rubs her head against the pillow, trying to shake her chaotically running thoughts away. But it does not help. She has to say something.</p><p>“Din, are you still awake?” she whispers.</p><p>“Yeah.” He turns over to his side to look at her.</p><p>“About the thing we talked about back then on the beach, like hypothetically… What do you think we’d do if I was pregnant now?”</p><p>“I guess we’d figure that out if that was the case. Do you… Do you think that’s possible?”</p><p>“Well, I did say ‘hypothetically’. But having said that, my period is a week late, and the capsule is already a couple of months overtime.”</p><p>“But those expiry dates should have pretty large margins, right?”</p><p>“Yeah, that’s what they told me. I’m just thinking… Those should be based on averages. What if I’m in the super-fertile end of the range?”</p><p>“Should you test it, then?”</p><p>“Ah, yes, test…” In the midst of all the speculation, it had not even occurred to her that there was a way to find out. “I could get one tomorrow.”</p><p>He takes her hand and holds it under the blanket until her breathing deepens and she seems to relax into sleep. But Din lays awake for a long time, mind busy with rapidly escalating thoughts of his own:</p><p>
  <em>It could be anything. Just an irregularity. Ot could be an actual baby, with Elena’s eyes and nose. What if I screw up? Stab it with a knife when filling the dishwasher? Or let it electrocute itself by handling bare wires? Or crush it with a falling anvil? Why would you do that to your own child? I don’t know. This is so confusing on so many levels…</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Maybe it would be asleep right here between us. And I’d want nothing more than to just love and protect it from everything, but I’d still be here myself, and so afraid that I’d screw up. I’d want to protect any child from myself. Or I’ll just pass on every fucking piece of growing up with my own parents dead.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Don’t you think people have kids with worse backgrounds and situations and skills than you? Maybe, and that exactly is a problem we have. People go through multiple rounds of interviews before accepted for adoption, but anybody is allowed to have a child of their own, just by banging, no questions asked.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Well, this escalated quickly, considering that you’re not even sure if this is just Elena’s period coming a few days late. Perhaps that’s very normal. But it’s a full week! She wouldn’t mention it if it wasn’t significant. Ok, maybe it is. But she promised she’ll test. No use worrying before actually knowing. Better sleep now to be ready for celebrating if the result is good. Which result do you refer to as good? You’ll figure that out.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>The next day, both of them have trouble concentrating on work. The hours seem to pass by at a snail’s pace before Elena finally closes her laptop and covers her face with another Baby Yoda mask in preparation for going out for errands, including dropping by at the pharmacy.</p><p>While she is away, Din does his best to occupy his mind to keep it from speculating. He tries to continue working for a while, then vacuum cleaning the apartment, then cooking dinner. But all the time, his mind goes on producing different scenarios for how Elena might be pregnant and how he might end up killing their child.</p><p>When Elena returns, Din forces himself to take several calming breaths so that he can keep the anxiety out of his voice when asking: “Did you get it?”</p><p>Elena smiles and shakes her head. “I already found out on the way.”</p><p>“What do you mean?”</p><p>“My period started.”</p><p>Like two opposing magnets, they pop into a hug, breathing deep out of relief mixed with disappointment.</p><p>"I did buy these, though", Elena says when she lets him go and digs a package of condoms out of her bag. "I can't handle this kind of anxiety again."</p><p>“So you made up your mind, then?” Din asks.</p><p>“Hard to say exactly… Last night and today, there were many moments when I felt like I really wished it was the real deal instead of an irregular period. But when I felt a small gush and went to the shopping mall toilet and saw the blood, I was suddenly so relieved that I don’t know anymore. I think it’s the thought of a baby that I like, but in the end, for humans, the amount and timing of all the toddler-like cuteness is just so limited. And I wouldn’t really be ready to face everything that comes after that.”</p><p>Din takes Elena’s face between his hands and strokes her cheeks with his thumbs. “I understand, sweetheart. I think I know which species you’d prefer.”</p><p>She nods and breaks into a mixture of laughter and tears. It takes a long while for her to recover her ability to speak.</p><p>“I was so disappointed, though, too. You know, I had planned it all very far in my mind.”</p><p>“Me, too. I didn’t know it’s possible to feel this much relief and disappointment at the same time.”</p><p>Elena looks into his eyes and strokes his hair, nodding in understanding. Then she takes his arms and pulls him to the sofa.</p><p>“Will you hold us?” She grabs the Baby Yoda soft toy in her arms and nestles in Din’s lap. He folds his arms around the package including the woman and the toy and lets his head fall over her hair. They both alternate between crying, laughing and silence for long enough for the dinner to turn cold.</p><p>“How do we ever know what we want?” Elena says in frustration as she finally finds herself ready to lift her head up from Din’s shirt that is, by now, wet with her tears. “What if life just passes and in the end, we’re dying and think that actually, family would have been something we’d really have wanted to have but then it’s too late?”</p><p>“I think there’s a way we can find out.”</p><p>“What is it?”</p><p>“We can fill out the adoption application and go through the process as far as we feel like. It should be designed to figure out who really wants it and who doesn’t.”</p><p>“You know what? You’re absolutely right.” Elena smiles and dries the rest of her tears.</p><p>“Let’s do it then, but let’s warm up dinner and eat first - and maybe sleep over it.”</p><p>“Ahhh, my husband is a genius. A hot badass genius.”</p><p>"And my wife is exaggerating."</p><p>"There's nothing to exaggerate about you."</p><p>She places the baby in a comfortable position at the other corner of the sofa and kisses Din indulgently enough for them to forget about the dinner once more.</p>
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